managing tailor-made enhanced packet cores for 4g/5g...

This project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 815279.

Managing Tailor-Made Enhanced Packet CoresManaging Tailor-Made Enhanced Packet Coresfor 4G/5G Testbeds in OSM for 4G/5G Testbeds in OSM with thewith the

SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNFSimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF

Thomas Dreibholz, Thomas Dreibholz, [email protected]@simula.noAndrés Felipe Ocampo, Andrés Felipe Ocampo, [email protected]@simula.no

OSM10 HackfestOSM10 HackfestDecember 2, 2020December 2, 2020

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

30 November 2020 Managing Tailor-Made Enhanced Packet Cores for 4G/5G Testbeds in OSM 2

Table of Contents

• OpenAirInterface and Our Goal• Basic Testbed Setup• The SimulaMet EPC VNF• Juju Configuration and Challenges• Managing Builds• Demo


OpenAirInterface (OAI)● OpenAirInterface (OAI):

– Open Source software for EPC and eNodeB (i.e. packet core and base stations)

– Details: https://www.openairinterface.org

– 4G LTE available, 5G under development

– Ongoing work, with many different Git branches

● Idea:

– Manage OAI setups in OSM (at least, the EPC part)● Automatic setup and deployment

– Easy to add additional features (e.g. Mobile Edge Computing components)

– Open Source, of course! → https://github.com/simula/5gvinni-oai-ns

https://www.openairinterface.org/https://github.com/simula/5gvinni-oai-ns


● Hardware:

– User Equipment(modems, smartphones, etc.)

– Programmable sim cards

– Software-Defined Radio boards

● For the rest (eNodeBs, EPC):

– OpenAirInterface Open Source software

– Running on regular Linux PCs

– But: difficult to install and maintain!

ProgrammableProgrammable

Sim CardsSim Cards

Setting Up a 4G/5G Testbed

User EquipmentUser Equipment(UE)(UE)

Software-DefinedSoftware-DefinedRadio BoardsRadio Boards


Our Goal: An OpenAirInterface VNF● Main purpose: testbed setups for research and development

● OAI EPC as VNF

– Easy to use, EPC should (hopefully) work “out of the box”

– Build of OAI software inside VMs, according to specified Gitrepositories and commits ⇨ get exactly the desired installation

● NSs using the VNF and possibly other VNFs

– Example 1: add Mobile Edge Computing services to EPC

– Example 2: get basic EPC to test extended eNodeB software

– ...


Basic Testbed Setup


What is needed for the VNF?

● Base VDU image

● The VNF itself

● Juju Charms to configure the components

● Management of the build process


Base VDU Image● VDU image goals:

– Full-featured base VDU image, including development and debug tools

– Different versions of Ubuntu LTS (Xenial, Bionic, Focal)

– Up-to-date (i.e. all updates installed)

● Packer scripting:

– Fully automatic installation using Packer

– Preseeding (Ubuntu < 20.04); Subiquity (Ubuntu ≥ 20.04)● Additional PPA, keyboard layout setup, EFI boot, etc.● All updates installed● => Fresh, state-of-the art installation (avoids issues with “old” installations)

– Details: https://github.com/simula/nornet-vmimage-builder-scripts

https://github.com/simula/nornet-vmimage-builder-scripts


The SimulaMet EPC VNF

HSS: Home Subscriber ServerMME: Mobile Management EntitySPGW-C: Control Plane of the Packet Data Network GatewaySPGW-U: User Plane of the Packet Data Network Gateway


VNF Parameters Example● # ====== HSS ===============================================

hss_git_repository: ‘https://github.com/simula/openairinterface-openair-hss.git'hss_git_commit: 'dreibh/cassandra-build-fix-2020.w44'hss_S6a_address: '172.16.6.129'network_realm: 'simula.nornet'network_k: '449C4B91AEACD0ACE182CF3A5A72BFA1'network_op: '1006020F0A478BF6B699F15C062E42B3'network_imsi_first: '242881234500000'network_msisdn_first: '24288880000000'network_users: '1024'

● # ====== MME ===============================================mme_git_repository: 'https://github.com/simula/openairinterface-openair-mme.git'mme_git_commit: '2020.w44'mme_S1C_ipv4_interface: '192.168.247.102/24'mme_S1C_ipv4_gateway: '0.0.0.0'mme_S1C_ipv6_interface: ''mme_S1C_ipv6_gateway: ''mme_S11_ipv4_interface: '172.16.1.102/24'mme_S6a_address: '172.16.6.2'network_mcc: '242'network_mnc: '88'

● ...

Git repositoryGit repository

Git commit(or tag or branch)

Git commit(or tag or branch)

Tailor-Made EPC Setup according to

Your needs!

Tailor-Made EPC Setup according to

Your needs!

https://github.com/simula/openairinterface-openair-hss.githttps://github.com/simula/openairinterface-openair-mme.git


Configuration with Juju● Day-0/1: For each VDU (EPC component, i.e. HSS, MME, SPGW-C, SPGW-U):

– Install necessary additional packages (depends on component)

– Set up network configuration

– Clone component sources (Git repository and commit)

– Build the sources

– Create/update component’s configuration files

– Write systemd unit file (for “sudo service start|stop|restart”)

– Some convenience: System-Info, login banner per component, prompt colours, etc.

– Start the component

● Day-2: actions to start/stop/reconfigure components


Juju Proxy Charm Challenges● First version: charms.sshproxy._run() with lots of escaping

– $ \$ ; \ \\ ; " \\\" ; \" \\\\\\"⇨ ⇨ ⇨ ⇨– Really ugly to read, a mess to debug, …

● Better solution:

– Write “normal” code => Base64 encoding => charms.sshproxy._run()

– => echo “” | base64 -d | /bin/bash -x

● Even better:

– Some helper functions as a Python library “VDUHelper”● Code execution in VDU, file upload into VDU, etc.

– Add same library code to all our Juju proxy charms (=> automatically, with CMake ...)


Managing VNFD/NSD Builds● Multiple manual steps to generate and deploy VNFs and NSs

– Strictly verify all YAML files with yamllint (very useful, to avoid problems and surprises!)

– Copy Charm files to VNFDs and build Charms (charm build …)● Including our library “VDUHelper”

– Verify descriptor(s) and generate VNFD package(s)(validate_descriptor.py, generate_descriptor_pkg.sh)

– Verify descriptor(s) and generate NSD package(s)

● Initial approach: write a Makefile

● Better approach:

– Git for source management ⇨ information about all relevant source files– Let CMake write Makefiles and take care of dependencies!


Live Demo:SimulaMet EPC + Cloud RAN


Scenario Overview


Cloud RAN


Network Setup


Cloud RAN + EPC in OSM


Murphy’s LawMurphy‘s Law:„Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.“

Murphy‘s Law:„Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.“

„Accident ferroviaire de la gare Montparnasse“Image sources: Wikimedia


OSM Wishlist● OSM 8.0.2 is a great stability improvement!

– Only issue so far, with multiple NS instances: steadily increasing number of osm-mon-collector processes, until OOM killer starts terminating them → bug in OSM?

● Wishlist items:

– Improvement for OSM (and Juju) dependencies:● OSM and Juju depend on many APT packages, PIP Python packages, Snap, …● Murphy’s Law → many opportunities for things to go wrong● In case of any dependency issues, OSM installation/NS instantiation is going to fail

(happened a couple of times in the past, particularly due to PIP package issues)● => Wishlist: possibility to only depend on APT packages?

– If possible: feature to freeze versions● => Wishlist: possibility to even run without any Internet access?


Sources

● Get the sources here: https://github.com/simula/5gvinni-oai-ns

– Open Source, GPL-licensed

– README: how to set up a testbed

– images/: VDU preseeded image build script

– juju/: The Juju Charms used by the VNF

– SimulaMet-OAI-EPC_vnfd/: VNF descriptor

– SimulaMet-OAI-EPC_nsd/: NS descriptor for simple example

https://github.com/simula/5gvinni-oai-ns

This project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 815279.

Any Questions?Any Questions?

Thomas DreibholzThomas [email protected]@simula.no

https://www.simula.no/people/dreibhhttps://www.simula.no/people/dreibh

Andrés Felipe OcampoAndrés Felipe [email protected]@simula.no

https://www.simula.no/people/andreshttps://www.simula.no/people/andres

mailto:[email protected]://www.simula.no/people/dreibhmailto:[email protected]://www.simula.no/people/andres

TitleTable of ContentsOpenAirInterfaceSetting Up a 4G/5G TestbedOur Goal: An OpenAirInterface VNFBasic Testbed SetupWhat is needed for the VNF?Base VDU ImageThe SimulaMet EPC VNFVNF Parameters ExampleConfiguration with JujuJuju Proxy Charm ChallengesManaging VNF/NS BuildsLive Demo: SimulaMet EPC + Cloud RANScenario OverviewCloud RANNetwork SetupCloud RAN + EPC in OSMMurphy's LawOSM WishlistSourcesAny Questions?

managing tailor-made enhanced packet cores for 4g/5g...

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